Why do we call it a berry ?

I think it’s because we humans like to lazily simplify things, and so we just dump objects into a category they don’t really belong to just because it’s convenient.

Well, if you didn’t, I’d still call it a strawberry anyway. Same thing goes for tomatoes and potatoes. And oysters. In fact, I’d stick with the old names even if you were to change everything just for your sake. Might as well call the whole thing off eh?

i believe it is a berry because of the amount of seeds in it and the size, although some strawberries are quite large

A quick read of Wikipedia shows that not only are strawberries not really berries (they’re not even really fruit), but blueberries and cranberries are technically not really berries either, they’re false berries (amazingly enough, so is a banana!).

Why do humans call them berries? Cause we’re a species who likes to simplify and group things. If it’s small and round and tasty, it’s a berry. Unless it’s growing in a cluster, then it’s a grape.

@1000oceans The seeds are on the outside that make it no berry .
Banana is a herb :)

@sandystrachan I understand the strawberry not being a berry, but what makes a banana a herb?

Typo the banana plant ( as in the thing the banana grows on) is the herb , the banana is a fruit .
I was in such a rush to get out from the crowd at THE MOSCOW STATE CIRCUS i wrote it in a rush

Oh ok, I knew the banana plant was a herbaceous plant, but didn’t think the banana was a herb also.

Yea that was bad of me , i should have read what i wrote i blame the mass crowd stormin toward me . Trying to get out the hot circus , i am addicted to fluther and couldn’t stay off it during the show :) .

No one’s blaming you, I should actually be asleep right now =P

i’m addicted too. i’ve been on here for like 2 hours..

nothing better than a hot circus haha, i’d gluing cardboard to my arms and trying to fly out of there

i really should be doing something productive as well as you guys…maybe picking berries or something =P

I am glad one of the safest places to be during a thunder storm is in a car, here goes another storm there was one on the way in. Now there’s one on the way home :(

Good luck and stay safe

drive safe definately. thunder storms are always nice, but driving not so much….

All of this is just the conflict between botanical science and common usage. To most folks if it is sweet, juicy, small, and has multiple seeds it is a berry. Here are the two competing definitions:

# Botany. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary and having the whole wall fleshy, such as the grape or tomato.
# A small, juicy, fleshy fruit, such as a blackberry or raspberry, regardless of its botanical structure.

If you are a botanist, use the first one. If you eat food, use the second one.

The seeds have to be on the inside of the fruit.

The original question has been satisfactorily answered.. <3 Darwin

What’s interesting (or maybe I’m just a geek and find it interesting), I learned in Plant and Soil Science, which is that a strawberry, the “fruit” part, is actually a modified stem. Weird.

@AlenaD – As a recovering botanist, I find such facts fascinating.

Yay!